“Yes only electric cars, not ones fuelled with oil or other fuels,” he said, citing the eco-friendliness of EVs, the republic’s dwindling oil reserves, as well as Japanese and South Korean competition.

According to the Indonesian news agency, the national car project is currently being trialled and evaluated by the Technology Application and Study Agency, the Indonesian University and the Bandung Institute of Technology. The testing is expected to be completed by year-end.

Antara quoted Parliament deputy chairman Fadli Zon as saying that a national car project does not necessarily have to be a government project, and that the cooperation with Proton is a private-sector project rather than one involving the two governments.

Under the MoU, both companies are to conduct feasibility studies in areas including commercial, localisation, engineering and design, logistics and the potential development and manufacturing of the project in Indonesia. If successful, Proton and PT Adiperkasa Citra Lestari will sign a definitive joint-venture agreement.

The deal was met with some criticism in Indonesia, leading to Jokowi clarifying that the cooperation agreement was not intended for the development of a national car. Jokowi was reported to have championed the Esemka marque when he was Solo mayor – Esemka is a collaboration between several vocational schools in Solo, Central Java to design and build vehicles.

However, during his time in Malaysia, Proton chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad took Jokowi for a spin in the yet-to-be-launched Proton Iriz EV, which has been developed with South Korea’s LG Electronics. Could this be the EV they’re talking about, or is the Indonesian car set to share some of its technology?

While most dream of the future, Jonathan Tan dreams of the past, although he's never been there. Fantasises much too often about cruising down Treacher Road (Jalan Sultan Ismail) in a Triumph Stag that actually works, and hopes this stint here will snap him back to present reality.

Tak laku,if Proton keeps this level of car sales till Christmas,I can safely say,protong will hit less than 100,000 units this 2015.
Give another 2 yrs,declining by 20,000 units oer annum,it will be GAME OVER by 2017.

whats there left 4 m’sia if our neighbouring countries started to surpass us in terms of manufacturing capacity, quality, reliability, manpower and of course, technological progress in automotive field?

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